


First impressions suck, but maybe the second (or third) will be better

by Madame_Xela



Series: Dori and his Barman [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: First Impressions, Gen, M/M, Naran did not make a good one, Naran is grumpy, Nori gets into bar fights, Ori is sick, To be fair he had a shit day, and Dori just wants to forget it all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-05-14
Packaged: 2017-12-09 05:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madame_Xela/pseuds/Madame_Xela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they first met, Naran acted like a dick. Not because he was truly mean, but it was just one of those days where it was just one bad thing after another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First impression: Naran is a dick

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't stop writing Dori/Naran, nor will Naran let me because he kept me up until two thinking about this. Jerk.

The first time they meet, Naran doesn’t make a great impression.

In fact, it was so bad that Dori wanted to just forget it and block the barman from his mind.

It was during a time when Nori was home but not _at_ home. Ori was ill and irritable and wouldn’t let anyone but Dori or Nori touch him. So he went out-with sick baby Ori bundled up and strapped to his back-to find his troubled brother. He searched for a good fifteen minutes before stopping to say hello to Mister Balin and what a lovely night it is. Oh what am I doing out with Ori? Well we’re looking for my other brother-yes the one with the hair.

“Dwalin just got back from the pub, laddie. He said he saw your brother there.”

“Oh thank you!”

If only he had moved a little faster…

That night in the bar would be a night that Naran would never forget. Glerin had caught a bug and couldn’t come in to work (Dwarves, hardy folk they are, rarely get sick. And if they do it’s serious) and Heuran had to stay behind to take care of him. So Naran had to man the pub all by himself. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he had done so, he did start the business by himself you know, but it was the first time in forty six years and it seemed that the entire population of the Blue Mountains had wanted a pint that night.

It was busy and a mess (one of the casks had broken, spilling ale everywhere, and about ten mugs had been broken already so he would have to pay to have them replaced) and Naran had one bitch of a headache forming.

Then of course was the fight that destroyed half a dozen chairs and four tables. Nori had gotten into fight with four other patrons (over what, Dori never did-or would-find out and Naran had been sworn to secrecy. All he knew was that Nori did not throw the first punch). He was bloodied and drunk and the whole thing had gotten on Naran’s last nerve. He had thrown out the four who had started the fight, and in the process of throwing Nori out, his brother walked in.

The thief’s eyes widened when he made eye contact with his brother.

He was dragged to his brother (who was very attractive, and if Naran was in a better mood, he would have said something) by the back of his shirt. “Does this idjit belong t’ye?” he asked gruffly.

He nodded. “Oh no, what did you do now?”

“Hey I-”

“-If I find ‘im startin’ any more trouble in m’bar I goin’ t’take him out back to beat the shit out of him.” With that he threw the younger dwarf at his brother with enough force to almost knock them over. “Do a better job of keepin’ him out of trouble, ‘fore he gets ‘imself killed. Bad seed, that one. Yer lucky I’m not makin’ ye pay for the repairs.”

(Did he feel bad about that? Yeah. It wasn’t his brother’s fault Nori was so troubled. Nor was it fair of Naran to take out his frustration on him. But it was a long- _long_ day and all Naran wanted to do was go home and curl up onto that lump of straws and furs he called a bed.)

 The brown haired dwarf frowned, straightened his brother and quickly assessed his injuries. Everything was minor (thank the maker). “Well, perhaps you should have better control over what sorts you let into your bar. My brother might be a ‘bad seed’ but he’s not stupid. He knows not to pick fights, especially when he’s home.”

Naran was going to give a scathing remark about Dori’s lack of discipline and control over the lad, but Dori turned around and led his brother out the door. There, sleeping soundly on the dwarf’s back was a tiny dwarfling who was probably no bigger than Naran’s hand. The baby sneezed and spread a large amount of mucus onto his brother (or father’s) back and let out a pained cough.

Oh fuck…he really felt like a dick now. 


	2. Second Impression: Naran is okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited chapter :/

Naran sees neither head nor tail of the star haired dwarf or his brother for almost a month.

In that time, Glerin heals and comes back to work, taking some stress off of Naran’s shoulders. Heuran is handsomely rewarded for finding a thick vein of silver in the mines (which leads to another and then bright veins of gold shortly after. Whoever lived in the mountains before clearly didn’t bother digging too far) and that pays for food and taxes and repairs on the pub with some left to be saved for later. Naran replaces everything that had been broken in the fight and actually patches up that broken window instead of just boarding it up.

Yes, everything goes back to normal…except for that bag of money that keeps showing up in his mailbox. It’s a small bag filled with enough coins to purchase four pints and two plates of whatever dish Glerin has decided to cook up. It isn’t much, but after nine days it covers the cost of replacing the tables and chairs that had been destroyed the week before. They continue coming for three more days. The bags are always addressed to Naran, and always placed in the back of the mailbox so no one can see it (But Naran can always feel that it’s there, he feels his fingers brush against the coarse material as he gets the mail).

His sender doesn’t leave a name but he can guess as to who it is. And that makes him feel worse. So he sets aside all of the money his sender gives him and plans to return it the moment he sees either of the Ri brothers. Heuran says it’s very un-dwarflike of him and Naran retorts by says that Mother would have boxed his ears under the circumstances he got the money.

(No matter which brother gave him the money, it’s under terrible circumstances. Dori, the hardworking-probably underpaid-brother of a thief and a sick dwarfling, or Nori, the thief who probably got the money by stealing from unsuspecting dwarves and only gave it to him at his brother’s insistence. He has a sneaking suspicion that it’s the latter.)

*

The first Ri brother he sees after the fight is the star-haired thief, and it’s not at the pub.

It’s at a settlement of men about two and a half weeks from the Blue Mountains. He and a few cousins were there to trade ales with the pub owner (they’ve actually been somewhat-friends for the last five years).

Down the street a man was yelling. The dwarves chose to ignore it but eventually it became too much for even them to ignore.

“What’s goin’ on down there, Rercyn?”

The man’s blue eyes narrowed. “I ‘ave no idea.” The group walked closer to the yelling man. He was about fifty (by human standards) half bald, and whatever hair was left was oily and gray, with a bulbous stomach and barely there whiskers . In front of him was a young, dark haired woman clutching a babe to her breast. “YOU JUST BE THANKFUL I DON’T TAKE THAT CHILD AWAY AND LOCK YOU UP LIKE YOUR GOOD FOR NOTHIN’ HUSBAND!”

She held the baby tighter. “Please Milord! I didn’ steal nuffin’!”

“LIES!”

Guards were summoned, and when they arrived the elder man ranted and raved about how the wretch had stolen his food and a thick gold necklace that he had taken off so the local jeweler could repair and clean it-

“Milord? I found this on the ground. Is this what ye think she’s stolen from ye?” Out of nowhere, Nori appeared with a gold chain dangling in his hand. The man’s purple face quickly lost all of its color. He sputtered but nodded his head. “Well, forgive me, Milord, but had I stolen this, I wouldn’t just drop it on the ground. Not when it’s worth quite a lot. See this clasp here? Shoddy work. I’d say it came undone and fell off without ye noticin’. And if this fell off without ye noticin’, then I’m sure yer food disappeared in the same manner without ye realizin’ it.” The star haired dwarf sent a meaningful look at the large belly that made several people chuckle.

Huffing, the man snatched his necklace and told the guards that there was a simple misunderstanding and ran off in the other direction.

It didn’t take long for the crowd to dissipate once the man left. The woman had gotten up and thanked Nori so many times that her words were starting to slur together.

“Think nothin’ of it. He was outta line. Here…compensation for the trouble.” Naran watched as he dug a small bag from his pocket and placed it in her hands.

“This…”

“Should last ye ‘til yer husband gets out.” Naran left before he was seen.

He knew a few sides of Nori, brother of Dori. There was the thief, the gambler, and the devoted brother. This Nori, the one who takes from the rich and gives to the needy (because there was no doubt in his mind that Nori got that money from the lord) was new and changed Naran’s perspective.

*

Back in the Blue Mountains a few weeks later, Nori gets into a fight outside of the pub.

(He didn’t start this one even though he was close. No one says such things about his brothers!)

Instead of standing there, gawking like everyone else, or breaking up the fight Naran teams up with Nori and together they fight the three dwarves. It doesn’t take too long, but neither are they unharmed. They each have their fair share of cuts and Naran gets a nasty bruise on his face trying to block a blow that was aimed at Nori.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU TWO?”

Dori sat them down in the kitchen as he got to work taking care of their wounds. He had arrived at the end and had thrown the attackers away.   

“They started it.”

“A likely story!”

“But it’s true!”

“Aye. Bastards attacked yer brother first.”

“And how did you get involved? I didn’t think that you liked him…”

Here, Naran grumbled something that sounded like “he’s alright.” The argument stopped. Dori patched them up and dragged his brother to the door. “You stay here!” He rushed back to Naran’s side and clapped his shoulder. “Thank you.” He said quiet enough so only Naran could hear.

“Yer welcome.” 


End file.
